When Visa joined forces with Elon Musk’s X Money at the end of last month, some assumed it was inevitable that someday soon, users of the social media network would be able to transfer crypto using the platform formerly known as Twitter.
From his catbird seat across both the worlds of crypto and digital payments, Fireblocks SVP of Payments and Network, Ran Goldi, told The Block that from what he’s hearing, X Money is expected to be crypto-ready by the end of 2025.
"If I read the zeitgeist correctly, all the large payment companies that are now coming to us and saying, 'Hey, we now need a digital asset strategy,' said Goldi. "They fully expect that by the end of this year, X will probably have the ability to pay out in cryptocurrencies."
In X Money’s January announcement, the social media platform's CEO Linda Yaccarino framed the partnership as part of Musk’s larger vision of creating a super, or “everything,” app. Visa will enable users to fund their digital wallet, transfer funds to bank accounts, and peer-to-peer payments, according to the statement at the time.
Neither Musk nor X Money mentioned future plans to enable crypto payments when the Visa partnership was announced. However, with the Tesla CEO cultivating an ever closer relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump — who has been stacking his administration with pro-crypto bureaucrats while simultaneously supporting his own crypto initiatives like the DeFi platform World Liberty Financial — it would likely take few by surprise if Musk also jumped into crypto.
Musk also has a history with crypto. Although Dogecoin was created as a joke in 2013, the Tesla billionaire has a long-running association with the token, which is now the eighth-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap. Musk’s electric automobile company also holds over $1 billion in bitcoin.
Fireblocks’s Goldi said during recent conversations with digital payments companies interested in developing a strategy for crypto they are primarily interested in facilitating payments to “gig economy employees” and “marketplaces.”
The infrastructure firm, which raised $550 million in a Series E funding round at an $8 billion valuation in 2022, is uniquely positioned to understand the landscape for crypto payments as it supports both traditional financial institutions, like Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY), and major organizations native to digital assets like MoonPay and Revolut.
“About three years ago we pointed our compass on payments because we really believe that is where the utility will come from,” said Goldi.
Goldi also said that Fireblocks presently powers about 15% of the world’s blockchain transactions, including supporting payments companies. Among other things, Fireblocks enables merchants, entrepreneurs and creators to accept, manage and settle digital payments across borders.
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